South Korea has estimated that North Korea possesses between 80 and 120 nuclear warheads, a figure significantly higher than U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent claim that Pyongyang has 57 nuclear weapons, highlighting a widening gap in assessments of North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal.
Reuters reported on August 20 that South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back told lawmakers the estimate places North Korea’s stockpile between 80 and 120 warheads, though he cautioned that the exact number cannot be independently verified. He later clarified that the assessment was based on estimates from private research organizations rather than an official military count.
The comments came a day after Trump said at the White House that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un possessed 57 “very powerful nuclear weapons” while discussing plans for a possible summit with Kim later this year.
Ahn said Seoul’s estimate “appears somewhat different” from Trump’s figure but declined to comment on whether the U.S. president’s remarks signaled any shift in Washington’s policy toward recognizing North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.
South Korea has long avoided publicly disclosing detailed estimates of North Korea’s nuclear stockpile and continues to maintain that it does not officially recognize Pyongyang as a nuclear weapons state, in line with its policy of pursuing denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The defence minister also reaffirmed Seoul’s reliance on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for deterrence, rejecting both the development of South Korea’s own nuclear weapons and the deployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons on South Korean territory.
The differing estimates come as the United States seeks to revive diplomacy with North Korea after years of stalled negotiations. Trump has indicated he expects to meet Kim later in 2026, hoping to restart talks that collapsed following the 2018–2019 summits over sanctions relief and Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
North Korea has responded cautiously to Washington’s recent outreach. Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s influential sister, dismissed the recent reduction in joint U.S.–South Korean military exercises as insufficient, describing them as provocative despite their shorter duration, while saying she was unaware of any recent contacts between Pyongyang and Washington.
